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DecadentSavant · October 6th, 2006

this may seem minor to most but spam drives me crazy so i have to ask. i know i want my email out on the website so that anyone with buying questions can get a hold of me, but what steps can i take to avoid getting a bunch of spam?

mnchknlady · October 6th, 2006

Use javascript to create the email link and that will (may) prevent spam bots from getting it. Something like this:

Code:

 
<script language="JavaScript">
<!-- 
var name = "info";
var domain = "yoursite.com";
document.write('<a href=\"mailto:' + name + '@' + domain + '\">');
document.write( name + '@' + domain + '</a>');
// -->
</script>

TiddliBoom.com · October 6th, 2006

A regular feedback form.
Or show your mail address as an image (not clickable).
But if you don't change to a new address at the same time, it won't help. You're already on the spammers' lists.

Not to be mean to "Eagle" (above). But those mail address scramblers are not reliable at all. Some are better than other and might actually work. But it's just a matter of time until someone will take the time to crack it. The ones I have seen that actually work have much more elaborated code.

As I said: No criticism, and maybe your specific script is excellent. But in general, a regular, safe feedback form like http://nms-cgi.sourceforge.net/scripts.shtml is better

Cheers,
Dan

Jasonda · October 6th, 2006

I agree, a feedback form is better for avoiding spam. As a customer I actually prefer feedback forms when I am trying to get in touch with someone, because it is easier than having to open a new window, log in to my email account, copy the email address, etc etc.

Here's a neat application that lets you make WYSIWYG custom feedback forms. It's free too.

http://www.jotform.com/

Twinge · October 6th, 2006

The other option would be to use a good email service that can catch most of the spam. I run all of our business/website emails through gmail, and rarely recieve any spam at all. It is of course possible to have good mail wrongfully marked as spam, but the percentage is pretty low with the good stuff (e.g. gmail, and I think Spam Assassin does even better than gmail, but I've not used it).

Rodney · October 6th, 2006

Quote:


	I agree, a feedback form is better for avoiding spam.

I used to agree, up until about a month or so ago when I started getting a new breed of spam via contact forms.

It seems like the spammers are trying to do "comment spam" on blogs, but they have some sort of bot that goes out looking through HTML code (and probably text) on webpages.

When it finds a form (like a contact form), they will send their bot to auto submit fake contact form submissions from 100's of random IP addresses with a bunch of links to spammy sites.

I've seen this happen with quote forms, contact forms, url submit forms. It's pretty sucky.

I had to add a captcha to the t-shirtforums feedback forum because I was getting 50+ "comment" spams a day from it.

Quote:


	Not to be mean to "Eagle" (above). But those mail address scramblers are not reliable at all. Some are better than other and might actually work. But it's just a matter of time until someone will take the time to crack it. The ones I have seen that actually work have much more elaborated code.

I have to agree with this. The one I was using was this one:
http://www.jracademy.com/~jtucek/email/download.php

Even with that one, I had some brand new, freshly minted email addresses that I never used anywhere. I used the scrambler and put them on my site. Worked great for over a year, but then the spam started trickling in.

It's still not as bad as my 7+ year old email addresses, and it's better than nothing, but it's not spamproof. Close enough for me to keep using it though.

I sometimes also use a graphic image of the email address (sometimes clickable, sometimes not clickable)

So now, what I would suggest is a javascripted munged email address that is linked to a graphic of your email address. Under that, I would also put a simple contact form and hope that it doesn't get spammed

T-BOT · October 6th, 2006

... yeah, nothing worst than broke spammers.

you can always set some traps.

jdr8271 · October 6th, 2006

I dont know if javascript will protect you or not, but you could do something like:

var email = "email"
var domain = "domain"

document.write(<a href=mailto: + email + @ + domain + .com>email@domain.com</a>);

Im not sure if my code is exactly right. I havent written javascript in a while

Vtec44 · October 6th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdr8271


	I dont know if javascript will protect you or not, but you could do something like: var email = "email" var domain = "domain" document.write(<a href=mailto: + email + @ + domain + .com>email@domain.com</a>); Im not sure if my code is exactly right. I havent written javascript in a while

That basically defeats the purpose...

I've been using the "contact form" to protect myself. Also, email aliases that will forward to an actual email box. If particular alias gets too much spam, I can just turn it off. Of course, nothing is fool proof to a persistent spammer.

Dave G · October 7th, 2006

I use something called formtoemail. Simple and it seems to work well.

Jasonda · October 9th, 2006

You can also try this one: http://automaticlabs.com/products/enkoderform

It encrypts your email address and automatically creates the JavaScript code for you, so you can just paste it on your webpage.

I haven't used it myself, but it might be worth trying out.

Rodney · October 10th, 2006

Quote:


	You can also try this one: http://automaticlabs.com/products/enkoderform It encrypts your email address and automatically creates the JavaScript code for you, so you can just paste it on your webpage.

That's what the free tool I linked to in my post above does, but even with encryption, it's still not foolproof:

Spam! protecting your email address on your business site?

BodhiGear · October 12th, 2006

Why not just listing your e-mail address as (for example):

Quote:


	If you have any questions, just e-mail me at: JamesBond(AT)007(DOT)com

?

Rodney · October 12th, 2006

Quote:


	Why not just listing your e-mail address as (for example):

Makes it harder for non savvy web shopping customers to email you.

Twinge · October 12th, 2006

It is much better to get the spam than to confuse people with replacement text and lose customers. I regularily use [at] in place of @ with personal stuff that's not as important, but on a business site you really do need a real contact link.

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